 | |
| Formerly | United Media Enterprises |
|---|---|
| Company type | Print syndication |
| Founded | 1978; 47 years ago (1978), as the merger of United Features and NEA |
| Defunct | 2011; 14 years ago (2011) |
| Fate | Merged intoUniversal Uclick |
| Headquarters | Chicago,Illinois,United States |
| Services | editorial columns andcomic strips |
| Parent | E. W. Scripps Company |
| Divisions | Newspaper Enterprise Association (est. 1902) United Feature Syndicate (est. 1919) |
United Media was a largeeditorial column andcomic strip newspapersyndication service based in the United States, owned by theE. W. Scripps Company, that operated from 1978 to 2011. It syndicated 150 comics and editorial columns worldwide. Its core businesses were theUnited Feature Syndicate and theNewspaper Enterprise Association.
E. W. Scripps started his newspaper career in the 1885, and owned 22 newspapers by 1910. In 1897, he created two companies, theScripps-McRae Press Association and theScripps News Association. In 1907, he combined a number of news providers intoUnited Press Associations as a rival toAssociated Press.
On June 2, 1902, the newNewspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), based inCleveland, Ohio, started as a news report service for different Scripps-owned newspapers. It started selling content to non-Scripps owned newspapers in 1907, and by 1909, it became a more general syndicate, offering comics, pictures and features as well.[1] At that time, it had some 100 features available.[2]
United Feature Syndicate was formed in 1919.[3] It became a dominant player in the syndication market in the early 1930s. In March 1930, United Features acquired theMetropolitan Newspaper Service (ostensibly from theBell Syndicate).[4][2] And in late February 1931, Scripps acquired theNew York World, which controlled the syndication arms of the Pulitzer company:World Feature Service[2] andPress Publishing Co.[4] (which unlike other syndicates were owned by the paper rather than being separate entities). An April 1933 article inFortune described United Feature as one of the "Big Four" American syndicates (along withKing Features Syndicate,Chicago Tribune Syndicate, and theBell Syndicate).[5] United Features and NEA both became successful distributors of newspaper comics in the 1930s.[6]
In 1972, United Features Syndicate acquired and absorbed theNorth American Newspaper Alliance and theBell-McClure Syndicate into its operations.[7]
In May 1978 Scripps merged United Features and NEA to formUnited Media Enterprises (UM).[8][9]
In 1992, United Media donated the Robert Roy Metz Collection of 83,034 original cartoons by 113 cartoonists to theBilly Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum.
In 1994, Jim Davis's company,Paws, Inc., purchased the rights toGarfield (including the strips from 1978 to 1993) from United Feature. The strip is currently distributed byUniversal Press Syndicate, while rights for the strip remain with Paws.
On June 3, 2010, United Media sold their licensing arm, along with the rights toPeanuts andDilbert, toIconix Brand Group.[10][11]
TheScripps Howard News Service (SHNS) (established 1917) was part of United Media; SHNS went defunct in 2013.[12]
On February 24, 2011, United Media struck a distribution deal with Universal Uclick (now known asAndrews McMeel Syndication) for syndication of the company's 150 comic strip and news features, which became effective on June 1 of that year.[13][14] Of the more than 40 comic strips United Media transferred to Universal Uclick, about 75% of them were United Features strips (as opposed to Newspaper Enterprise Association strips). While United Media effectively ceased to exist,[15] Scripps still maintains copyrights and intellectual property rights.[16][17]
From 1999 until its 2011 takeover byUniversal Uclick, United Media used theComics.com domain to promote their existing syndicated strips as well as promote new strips and the burgeoning realm ofwebcomics. (Comics.com also featured editorial cartoons,The New Yorker cartoons,Snoopy.com, andDilbert.com.) The site, however, never worked the way it was planned. As cartoonist and former UM editor of acquisitions and developmentTed Rall wrote, Comics.com "was the laughingstock of the industry, full ofJavascript gone wild,404 errors and broken widgets."[18] According to Rall, outgoing UM President Doug Stern told his employees "that part of the failure of UM was directly attributable to the company's inability to make money online, that they had tried their best but failed."[18] Many involved with the company said that was not the case. Universal Uclick/Andrews McMeel Syndication took over the Comics.com domain, which currently redirects toGoComics.com, the web's largest catalog of syndicated newspaper strips, political cartoons and webcomics, offering free new content every day.
These were published on United Media's site and/orComics.com; many moved toGoComics:
{{cite press release}}:|last= has generic name (help)| International | |
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| National | |
